Plymouth, WI - Sixteen-year-old Jeffrey Bartz has big plans, and those start with the 2012 F1600 Formula F Championship Series, which he will contest with a Van Diemen/Honda. Bartz’s interest in racing began at age five at a local kart track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Since then he has won over 90 feature races and 11 karting championships.

(note: this item ran as the First Gear column in the November 2011 edition of SportsCar Magazine).

The young, slender man stepped from his fluorescent orange Formula 1600 in impound, as if emerging from a dream. A faint bemused smile played on his face as he stood beside the car. Wyatt Gooden simply couldn’t believe it. In his first ever formula car race, he had bested a field that included numerous national champions.

Wayzata, MN – Black Watch Racing Group will contest the 2012 F1600 Formula F Championship Series season with a two car team made up of Dan Murphy and F1600 race winner Jim Goughary. The duo will race the team’s freshly rebuilt Van Diemen/Hondas for the full six-event, 12-race 2012 schedule.

Indianapolis, IN - Bryan Herta Autosport team owners Bryan Herta and Steve Newey have partnered with Indianapolis-based businessman and Jeffrey Mark Motorsport team owner Jeff Mark to form Mygale North America. Mygale North America will import the French manufacturer’s race cars to the United States and Canada and provide customer support for new and existing Mygale car owners.

Jim Goughary became the first driver to win an F1600 Formula F Championship Series race last season, as the series debuted last April at Virginia International Raceway. To start 2012, he will be among the first drivers to run with one of the series’ newest teams – Black Watch Racing Group.

Sharon, CT – The long time voice of Lime Rock Park, Greg Rickes, has joined the 2012 Formula Race Promotions-operated Atlantic Championship Series, F2000 Championship Series and F1600 Formula F Championship Series as the official traveling play-by-play public address announcer and victory podium MC.

(This piece appeared originally in the January 2012 issue of SportsCar in a slightly shorter form due to space limitation in the magazine.)

When Mike Rand, Bob Wright and Al Guibord Jr. started in 2006 they wanted an affordable F2000 series. This year five of the seven race weekends had races for F1600 as well. In October at Watkins Glen, in the face of a brutal economic climate,the series attracted 38 F2000 cars and 25 F1600 cars.